Supporting information
Additional background information on the SHS
The Scottish Household Survey (SHS) started in February 1999. It provides robust evidence on the characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of private households and individuals. The topics covered include transport, housing, neighbourhoods, finances, internet, physical activity, local services, environment, volunteering, culture, childcare. Other information is covered, such as household composition, employment or unemployment, income, health and disabilities.
Where appropriate, the SHS uses the harmonised concepts and questions for government social surveys which have been developed by the Government Statistical Service, to facilitate comparison with the results of other government surveys. However, differences in sampling and survey methods mean that SHS results will differ from those of other surveys.
The SHS is intended to be a survey of private households. For the purposes of the survey, a household is defined as one person or a group of people living in accommodation as their only or main residence and either sharing at least one meal a day or sharing the living accommodation. A student's term-time address is taken as his/her main residence, in order that they are counted where they live for most of the year.
The sample was drawn from the Royal Mail’s small user Postcode Address File (PAF). The small user file excludes the majority of businesses. Blocks of flats etc, which have several dwellings at the same address, are not excluded from the small user file: in such cases, the file's Multiple Occupancy Indicator is used to count each dwelling separately for the selection of the sample.
People in certain types of accommodation (such as nurses’ homes, student halls of residence etc.) will be excluded from the SHS unless the accommodation is listed on the Small User file of the PAF and it represents the sole or main residence of the people concerned. People living in bed and breakfast accommodation may be included, if it is listed in the Small User file of the PAF and if it is their sole or main residence. Prisons, hospitals and military bases are excluded. This exclusion of some forms of accommodation may have particular effects upon the inclusion of certain groups in survey, such as disabled people.
The social questionnaire is in two parts:
- Household – Information is collected about the composition and characteristics of the household from the Highest Income Householder or their spouse/partner. This allows the SHS to produce information representative of Scottish households. A ‘random school child’ is also selected, and the household respondent answers questions about the school that child attends and how the child travels there.
- Random adult – Information is collected focusing on the attitudes and experiences of a randomly selected adult member of the household. This element also covers the ‘Travel Diary’ component which asks about travel behaviours on the day previous to that of the interview day. This produces data representative of the Scottish adult population resident in private households.
Further information on the Scottish Household Survey can be found on the Scottish Government website.
The data collected for the SHS is made available via the UK Data Service and may be made available on request, subject to consideration of legal and ethical factors. Please contact shs@gov.scot for further information.
Changes to the collection of journey data in 2025
The travel diary section of the SHS was redesigned in 2025 to reduce respondent burden and improve the interview experience for both respondents and interviewers. The changes simplified the travel diary section and reduced the amount of information that needed to be collected.
Before 2025, detailed information was collected about the journey as a whole and then on all stages of the journey. (A new stage was defined when there was a change in the mode of transport or a change required a separate ticket.) This caused the travel diary section to be very lengthy and may have contributed to under-reporting of journey stages.
In 2025, the stage-level mode questions were replaced with two journey-level questions:
- What was the main method of travel for this trip?
- What other methods of travel did you use?
The question on the location of stage starts was also removed. Other than the start and end points of the journey, location information is now collected only where travel switches between car or van and public transport, or vice versa.
Circular journeys
Prior to 2025, circular journeys, particularly those made for dog walks, walking, running or cycling, could be difficult to record. Interviewers were required to split these journeys into two parts and record the furthest point reached.
To address this, new questions were introduced for dog walks and walking, running and cycling journeys. Respondents were asked whether the journey was circular and whether the end location was the same as the starting location and if so, this was recorded as one journey. These journeys were split into two at the analysis stage for consistency with other years.
Impact on the data
The questionnaire redesign has affected the number of circular journeys recorded for dog walking and walking or running activities. Around 50% more of these journeys were recorded in the 2025 dataset than in 2024, increasing the sample of journeys by over 900.
This increase is likely to reflect improved capture of these journeys rather than a real change in travel behaviour. The increase may be due to the introduction of dedicated questions for circular journeys and the reduction in time to collect information on other journeys.
As a result, there is a break in the time series for travel diary statistics between 2024 and 2025. Users should therefore exercise caution when comparing statistics over time.
Changes to question frequency from 2024
Following a review of the 2024 SHS questionnaire, the interview length was reduced to lower respondent burden and help improve response rates.
As part of this change, many transport questions (other than the travel diary) are now asked every two years rather than annually, with most being asked in even-numbered years. As a result, publications for odd-numbered years will include fewer updates to the social survey tables.
A small number of questions were removed. Full details are provided in the annex on the Scottish Government website.
Comparability of 2020 and 2021 results with other years
The results of the 2020 and 2021 SHS telephone surveys are not directly comparable to SHS face-to-face survey results for other years. We would expect some genuine changes in people’s views, experiences, and habits relating to transport during the pandemic. However, response rates for the telephone survey were lower than for previous face-to-face surveys, and there was a change in the profile of respondents (e.g. home owners and people with degree level qualifications were over-represented).
The annual SHS Methodology Reports provide more detail on the changes in approach, and how this may have impacted the results.
Improved estimation of journey distance in 2024
Between 2017 and 2023, journey distance statistics had been based on the shortest road network distance between journey start and end points, replacing straight-line distance, which underestimated travel by around one-third.
For some circular journeys with the same start and end point, this method produced a distance of zero. From the 2024 publication onwards, distances for these journeys are estimated using journey duration and average speed for the mode of transport. This change was applied to the distance time series back to 2012.
The update reduced the proportion of journeys recorded as under 1 km and slightly increased estimates in other distance bands. Walking and car journeys were most affected.
Other Transport findings from the Scottish Household Survey
Disability and Transport
A publication providing further analysis of the Scottish Household Survey for disabled people, as well as measurements from other sources, Disability and Transport, was updated on 11th March 2026 to include data up to 2024. An update to include 2025 data will be published by early next year.
Transport Scotland Statistics
The full range of transport statistics publications are available on the Transport Scotland website.